Prison Entrepreneurship Program (Official Page)

08/19/2026

We’re excited to share that PEP has been selected for the BreakingBounds® Dearing Navigator ’27 cohort!

Over the coming months, our team will learn alongside nine other Houston-area nonprofits while strengthening the strategies and systems that support our mission.

For PEP, organizational growth means creating more opportunities for men to transform their lives through entrepreneurship, servant leadership and community—and helping more families build stronger futures together.

Thank you to BreakingBounds® for investing in our mission. We’re excited for the journey ahead!

07/04/2026

Freedom is one of America’s founding ideals. Every day at PEP, we see what can happen when people are given the opportunity to earn a second chance and build a better future.

This Independence Day, we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy, the responsibilities we share, and the belief that redemption and opportunity can strengthen our communities.

Happy Fourth of July from all of us at PEP.

06/25/2026

Longtime PEP volunteer Jay Wall shares why prison conditions matter to rehabilitation in his latest Houston Chronicle opinion piece.

We’re grateful for Jay’s years of service to PEP and for his continued advocacy on behalf of the men we serve.

Read the article:

Texas summer is here. So why does Texas let prisoners bake to death in our prisons, asks Jay Wall III.

06/21/2026

Over the past few weeks, we’ve shared stories of fathers rebuilding trust, restoring relationships, and creating new futures for their families.

We’ve heard from Raymond Herrera, Kyle and Parker Cox, Michael Etcheson, and servant leaders inside prison walls who are preparing to become the fathers their children deserve.

Today, we’re bringing those stories together.

In this special Father’s Day edition of the PEP newsletter, you’ll find the stories, reflections, and mission behind this year’s campaign.

A restored father can change a family.
A restored family can change a future.

Read the Father’s Day newsletter:

Behind every PEP statistic is a man – a son and many times a father – who wants nothing more than to reconnect and spend time with the ones he had to leave years ago. Though there is more to it than that, at the end of the day, that is really all that matters.

06/19/2026

“Every time you hear one of these kids yell out ‘Daddy,’ it gets me every single time.”

PEP’s Michael Etcheson knows firsthand what it means to receive a second chance.

In this conversation with The Jeff Crilley Show, he shares how PEP helped him become a better father and why restoring families remains at the heart of our mission.

Watch the interview and learn more at PEP.org/fathers.

The Prison Entrepreneurship Program is a cause close to my heart. T...

06/14/2026

Many of the men in our program grew up without fathers.

Today, they’re learning what it means to become one.

As we approach Father’s Day, we want you to hear directly from PEP servant-leaders as they share what fatherhood means to them and the kind of fathers they hope to be.

PEP.org/fathers

06/11/2026

Kyle wasn’t always present in his son’s life.

Today, Parker tells a different story.

“It took him a while, but we are here now.”

This Father’s Day, we’re celebrating fathers who chose a different future and the families who welcomed them home.

Learn more at PEP.org/fathers.

06/08/2026

When Raymond Herrera returned home, he was determined to become the father his children deserved.

Today, he is a devoted husband, father of five, servant leader, and mentor to countless men both inside and outside prison walls.

This Father’s Day, we’re celebrating fathers who are restoring relationships, rebuilding trust, and creating new legacies for their families.

A restored father can change a family.
A restored family can change a future.

Learn more and support the campaign at pep.org/fathers.

05/27/2026

We’re grateful to the Greater Houston Community Foundation for recognizing PEP alongside incredible organizations like Connective and Grameen America as part of its inaugural High-Impact Grantmaking initiative.

This collaboration reflects what’s possible when organizations come together around bold, proven solutions that strengthen families, expand economic opportunity, and create pathways for long-term success.

We’re honored to be part of this work in Houston and thankful for partners who believe in second chances, entrepreneurship, and transformational impact.

Read more here: https://ghcf.org/articles/from-investment-to-impact-inaugural-year-of-high-impact-grantmaking/?fbclid=IwY2xjawSELvVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFXS1paWTAwR3NjMWVKZDh1c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHmY3yTa1xtMgagMrIMgjKHBWCDKs0_uHRqixEKkJtQhruNKJxw5jYsUtlz5I_aem_bP-Ok-CzpVXHY84OIMv-gA

Learn how High-Impact Grantmaking supports organizations focused on economic mobility and breaking poverty cycles in Houston.

05/26/2026

This month’s PEP newsletter is about what happens when transformation reaches beyond one man.

From Michael Etcheson’s powerful Barbed Wire to Business testimony, to the growing need for reentry housing and Life Caddies, to Gerald Dooley’s Mother’s Day reflection on the women who carry families through incarceration, May’s update is a reminder that PEP’s mission is bigger than business plans.

It is about transforming lives, restoring families, and rebuilding communities.

Read the May newsletter:

“I dropped out of school in the 7th grade. And the crazy part is … no one asked why, and no one came looking. Then 2018 happened. What I used to call a charge … I now call a blessing. Because it led me to PEP.”